MuckRaker96 said:
The Sweet 16!
Hogties Region
#1 YOU SHALL NOT PASS - Gandalf vs. the Balrog of Moria - FOTR vs. #5 The Rohirrim arrive at Minas Tirith -ROTK
This is so tough. These might be the two best-adapted scenes an any of the movies. I have to give Gandalf the edge here because, as magnificent as the latter scene is, it kind of loses this:
Quote:
Suddenly the king cried to Snowmane and the horse sprang away. Behind him his banner blew in the wind, white horse upon a field of green, but he outpaced it. After him thundered the knights of his house, but he was ever before them. Eomer rode there, the white horsetail on his helm floating in his speed, and the front of the first eored roared like a breaker foaming to the shore, but Theoden could not be overtaken. Fey he seemed, or the battle-fury of his fathers ran like new fire in his veins, and he was borne up on Snowmane like a god of old, even as Orome the Great in the battle of the Valar when the world was young. His golden shield was uncovered, and lo! it shone like an image of the Sun, and the grass flamed into green about the white feet of his steed.
MuckRaker96 said:
Hogties Region
#2 Gimli: Let them come! There is one Dwarf yet in Moria who still draws breath! - FOTR vs. #6 Aragorn's speech - Stand, Men of the West! - ROTK
"Men of the West" by a hair, but neither of these are as good as 1 and 5.
MuckRaker96 said:
Hunter 2012 Region
#1 Let this be the hour when we draw swords together. Fell deeds awake. Now for wrath, now for ruin, and the red dawn. Forth, Eorlingas! - Theoden - TTT vs. #4 Sam carries Frodo the final few feet to the Cracks of Doom - ROTK
#1 is interesting because it takes a dynamic between Aragorn and Eomer and replaces the latter with Theoden. They promise to "draw swords together" and it happens on the Pelennor Fields as the tide finally turns in their favor for good. Just before that, while Eomer thinks he's making his last stand, he chants,
Quote:
Out of dark, out of dark to the day's rising
I came singing in the sun, sword unsheathing.
To hope's end I rode and to heart's breaking:
Now for wrath, now for ruin and a red nightfall!
Another close one, but I have to vote for Sam because of how much Theoden's line reminds me of Pelennor Fields, which I consider a weaker adaptation.
MuckRaker96 said:
Hunter 2012 Region
#6 Gondor calls for aid! AND ROHAN WILL ANSWER! - ROTK vs. #7 Aragorn: My friends. You bow to no one - ROTK
#6, because not a single one of you can read that line without hearing horns playing the Rohan theme. I never really cared for #7 until I realized, thanks to comments on this thread, that it is kind of a stand-in for the Scouring of the Shire. In a line, it tells us the most important ideas that the chapter in the book shows us. I don't really
like it as a substitute, but I supposed it's preferable to adding another hour to the movie.
MuckRaker96 said:
Tanya 93 Region
#1 Sam's speech about the great stories and that there's some good in the world, and it's worth fighting for. TTT vs. #4 The fellowship passes the gates of Argonath in their boats - FOTR
I voted for #1 over the last holdout from "my" region, so I suppose I have to see it through here.
MuckRaker96 said:
Tanya 93 Region
#2 Eowyn slays the Lord of the Nazgul / I am no man - ROTK vs. #3 Legolas to Gimli: Shall I describe it to you? Or would you like me to find you a box? - TTT
I laughed really hard at #3 in the theater. That doesn't make it an epic moment. I think we are at the point in this bracket where epic starts trumping wit.
MuckRaker96 said:
West Texan Region
#5 The Nazgul smells the Ring on the road outside the Shire - FOTR vs.#8 Boromir's death - I would have followed you my brother, my captain, my king. - FOTR
Boromir. Everyone loves a redemption story, and this is the culmination of an arc that takes you from suspicion to resentment to anger to pity to grief.
MuckRaker96 said:
West Texan Region
#2 The moment the Rohirrim hit Saruman's army as the sun rises - TTT vs. #3 Theoden's speech before the charge at Minas Tirith - A sword day! A red day! Ere the sun rises! - ROTK
Well I voted against Rohan showing up on the Pelennor fields; I guess I can't do it twice. By way of comparison, Theoden's speech in the book comes a little while before the charge, and the tension builds much more slowly:
Quote:
Now is the hour come, Riders of the Mark, sons of Eorl! Foes and fire are before you, and your homes far behind. Yet, though you fight on an alien field, the glory you reap there shall be your own for ever. Oaths you have taken: now fulfill them all , to lord and land and league of friendship!
